German Auto Makers Rev Up Electric Vehicles

9/10/2013 12:24PM

German auto makers have been skeptical about electric cars and hybrids. But with regulators bearing down, they're stepping up investments in plug-in models from small to large, like the BMW x5 eDrive. WSJ’s Joe White reports from the Frankfurt Motor Show.

This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.

... a ... the US ... is the BMW X by ... the drive ... the of course as for electricity in its one of a number of electric or partially electric models that are being shown here at the Frankfurt auto show ... it wasn't too long ago the German auto maker's BMW included were pretty skeptical ... of the value of electric drive ... up they tended to focus on diesels but that's changing ... regulations are pushing ... all the major auto makers to electrified their cars ... this is just one of the concepts that and and production cars that BMW has ... that are basically getting all or part of their power from batteries this one will go about nineteen miles ... on battery charge the rest will be taken over by a four cylinder gasoline engine ... the ... gasoline or the ... diesel it you can save by doing that